CIVIL ARCHITECTURE. 



587 



Dtcora 



Practice, tings or temples, which stand in the court of one of 

 '"%'""' the pagodas in the west suburb of Canton. 

 Houses of In Chinese ktnuet, the distribution is precisely uni- 

 theChinese. form. Those of the merchants at Canton are all near the 

 side of the river ; they are narrow and very long : in 

 other respects, they differ not as to interior distributions 

 from the general scheme ; the ground-floor is traversed 

 in its length by a wide passage, which extends from the 

 street down the middle of the habitation to the river ; 

 the apartments are on either side, and consist each of a 

 saloon for receiving visitors, and a small bed-chamber, to 

 which is sometimes added a closet or study ; in front of 

 each apartment is a court, at the extremity of which 

 there is generally a fish-pond or cistern, with an artificial 

 rock in the middle, covered with bamboos and other a- 

 quatic plants ; the sides of the courts are usually deco- 

 rated with flcrwer-pots, or with blossoming shrubs, vines, 

 or bamboos formed into arbours. It is common to have 

 a large porcelain vase on a pedestal in the centre, filled 

 with the flowers called lien-hoa. 



The great room or saloon is generally from 18 to 20 

 feet in length, and about 20 feet in width. The side 

 which is next the court is open, and provided with a 

 screen of canes, which is occasionally let down. The 

 pavement is composed of squares of stone or marble of 

 Taiions colours. The walls are covered with mats to 

 about four feet from the ground. The upper part isco- 

 vered with white, or crimson, or gilt paper. Instead of 

 pictures, as in Europe, the Chinese hang up large pieces 

 of satin or paper in frames, and painted to imitate marble 

 or bamboo, whereon are v.-ritten, in characters of azure 

 blue, moral distiches and proverbs, extracted from the 

 works of Chinese philosopher*. Besides these, some per- 

 sons have certain large characters, traced by a masterly 

 hand in Indian ink on glazed white paper. This orna- 

 ment is in high estimation. The farther end of the sa- 

 loon consists of folding-doors, the lower parts of whicli 

 ure latticed, and covered with painted gauze to admit 

 light into the bi:d-chamber. The doors, which are of 

 wood, are neatly executed, ornamented with a variety of 

 characters and figures, and sometimes highly varnished, 

 and painted red, blue, yellow, &c. The doors are left open 

 during the night to admit fresh air. The chamber is very 

 small, and is only furnished with the bed, and some var- 

 nished trunks for holding apparel. The beds are some- 

 times of greater magnificence. The bedsteads, which 

 resemble those of Europe, are made of carved rosewood, or 

 of lacquered work. At the side of the chamber is a pas- 

 sage leading to the closet, inclosed by walls, and lighted 

 by a window. The walls are decorated like those of the 

 saloon, with moral sentences, &c. The furniture consists 

 of elbow chairs, sophas, tables, shelves, and books. On 

 a table near the window are pencils for writing and draw- 

 ing, and instruments used by the Chinese in calculations. 

 Besides these apartments, there is on the ground floor 

 the dining-room, the kitchen, servants' room, bath, privy, 

 and counting-house. Towards the street is the shop. ' 



The leon, or upper story, consists of large halls, which 

 occupy the whole breadth of the buildings. These are 

 occasionally converted into chambers for visitors. This 

 is accomplished by means of a number of pieces of framed 

 wain^cotting two or three feet in width, and ten or twelve 

 feet long. With these, in the course of a few hours, 

 the space is divided into as many small rooms as the cir- 

 cumstances require. Some of the partitioning pieces are 

 cut down to with'n four feet of the floor, and the aper- 

 tures filled up with very thin oyster shells, being suffi- 

 cient to admit light into the apartments. Of thjj sort 



of shell all the windows of the Chinese houses are con- Practice, 

 structed. ^V" 



One of the large halls, nearest the entrance, contains 

 the image and altar of the household deity, placed so as 

 to be seen by every person in entering. The remainder 

 cf the upper story is divided into apartments for the fa- 

 mily ; and over the shops into rooms for the shopkeepers. 

 The facades next the street, are either quite plain or oc- 

 cupied by shops ; there is no other opening but the door, 

 and that is screened by a mat to prevent passengers look- 

 ing in. From the river the fa9ades, consisting of pillars 

 and galleries, have an airy and pleasant appearance. 



Their building materials are chiefly bricks and wood ; BuUding 

 the former are either merely dried in the sun, or baked Materials, 

 in an oven or kiln. The walls are usually about 18 inches 

 thick. The bricks, which are about the size of those in 

 England, are worked in the following manner : Three or 

 four courses next the foundation, are laid quite solid 

 through the breadth of the wall. Upon these, the next 

 course is hid header and stretcher alternately in both 

 faces of the wall. The headers being laid opposite each 

 other, meet in the middle of the wall, and there is a void 

 space left between them equal to the length of the 

 stretchers, and nearly of the same breadth. The suc- 

 ceeding course is laid stretchers only through the whole 

 breadth of the wall, by which the joints of the cross 

 bricks or headers in the course beneath are covered with 

 a whole brick. This mode eaves time and expence. The 

 tiles for covering the roofs are either flat or semi-cylin- 

 drical, the latter being laid upon the joints of the for- 

 mer. The Chinese always leave the timbers of the in- 

 terior of the ceiling or roof exposed ; they are some- 

 times made of costly wood, and sometimes inlaid with 

 5*ory, copper, or mother-of-pearl. 



The columns used to support the roofs are usually of Coi; 

 wood, upon stone or marble bases. They are without 

 capitals, the ends of the beams being morticed through 

 the heads of the shafts. The height varies from 8 to 

 1'2 diameters ; the diminution is gradual from the bottom 

 to the top ; the bottom of the shaft terminates with an 

 ovolo ; the bases have a diversity of profiles. 1. In the 

 colonnade to the pagoda of Cochinchina, the columns 

 are nine, and the bases one diameter in height. 2. In 

 one of the temples of the same pagoda, the columns are 

 nine, and the bases are two diameters in height. 3. In 

 the colonnade of the great court of the pagoda of Ho- 

 nang, the height of the column- is nine diameters, and 

 that of the bases one. The projecting ends of the beams 

 at the top are decorated with monstrous heads termina- 

 ting in foliage, and the consols which support them issue 

 from the mouths of grotesque masks, carved in bas relief 

 upon the columns. 4. In a small pagoda, in the eastern 

 suburb of Canton, the columns are eight diameters and a 

 half high, and the bases only three quarters of a diame- 

 ter ; the ends of the beams are carved, to represent dra- 

 gons heads, and all the timber of the roof is ornamented 

 with inlaid work of copper, ebony, ivory, and mother- 

 of-pearl, representing monsters, foliage, &c. 5. The 

 column most usually met with in Chinese houses, is from 

 eight to twelve diameters, and sometimes more ; and the 

 base from one half to two-thirds of a diameter. The 

 profile is like the Tuscan of Palladio. 6. In a small pa- 

 goda, in the street of the European factories, the co- 

 lumns are of stone, and of an octagonal figure. Their 

 height is eight diameters, of a circumscribing circle, and 

 they have no diminution. The bases in the profile re- 

 semble the attic. Their height is equal to twice the 

 breadth of one of the sides of the column. This kind 



